Good bricks for the taking in Waynesburg
Editor's Note: This story incorrectly listed the two days in which bricks can be picked up at the site. They can be received on Thursday, Oct. 8, and Saturday, Oct. 10.
WAYNESBURG – Anyone who may need some good housing bricks for a project such as a walkway, patio, garden wall or barbecue pit, should consider taking advantage of a free offer by the Greene County Redevelopment Authority.
The authority is planning to demolish a vacant house at the corner of South Washington and Lincoln streets in Waynesburg and is getting started by “re-purposing” materials that are still in good condition.
One of the materials is the red brick on the house’s exterior.
“These bricks are solid,” said Dave Calvario, who is the authority’s executive director. “The quality is much better than today’s. The mortar comes off easily and they clean up nicely.”
The bricks also have no holes common to many housing brick, which makes them good to use for any decorative purpose, he said. They will be given away for free; a person only need come to the property Thursday, Oct. 8, or Saturday, Oct. 10, and haul them away.
The house at 193 S. Washington St. has been vacant for almost 20 years and was donated to the authority by its previous owner in May. The authority administers a program under which it obtains blighted houses at minimal cost and either rehabilitates them or tears them down to make space for new housing for low- and moderate-income families.
The aim is to eliminate blight, return properties to the tax rolls and, most importantly, provide housing for those who need places to live, Calvario said. The program is funded by a grant from the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Act program and from contributions from the county and municipalities.
The house on Washington Street will eventually be demolished to make room for a new house, possibly a modular home, Calvario said. The authority considered rehabilitating it.
“We had an engineer and architect look at it. They said it would be too costly to repair to meet the guidelines of the grant,” he said.
The state grant program requires grant money be spent to benefit people of low and moderate income.
But before it demolishes the building, the authority hopes to salvage as much of the good materials that it can. Interior doors and other furnishings were already removed by another non-profit organization that works on housing, Calvario said.
The bricks also shouldn’t just be thrown away.
“We want to take the brick off, not only to lower the landfill costs but also because the bricks are good and can be re-purposed,” Calvario said.
Calvario said he and authority construction manager, Steve Salisbury will begin removing the bricks from the house, which are only a veneer and not load-bearing, on Wednesday.
It plans to use workers from the Greene County Court’s Community Service Program to help remove mortar from the brick, clean them up a bit and stack them for people to take.
Someone surely can make good use of them, Calvario said.
“I just don’t want to see all this go to a landfill,” he said “I’m a big believer in re-purposing stuff. I believe in respecting God’s creation and the environment.”
Calvario said the bricks could also be available after the two dates and anyone interested in obtaining them or seeking further information about the authority’s programs should call him at 724-852-5306.